Recognise This! – If HR wants a seat at the table, then bring metrics the CEO cares about.
Over and over again, I hear HR pros talking about “getting a seat at the table.” Laurie Ruettimann’s post last week reminded me again of this highly contentious topic.
I’m always astounded that HR doesn’t have a seat at the table. Towers Watson reported: “Today the lion’s share of corporate value – nearly three-quarters by some estimates – comes from an organisation’s people and their ideas, innovation and performance. Put another way, competitive advantage is increasingly being achieved through investments in people and skills rather than expenditures of capital for physical assets.”
If 75% of an organisation’s value comes from the people, and “people” are considered to be the domain of HR, then why doesn’t the senior executive team see the value in HR coming to the table?
I suggest HR needs to bring stronger metrics and reports to show progress (or needed areas of improvement) in a way the CEO cares about. Reporting statistics on the number of managers who failed once again to complete performance reviews in a timely manner isn’t going to cut it. What kind of metrics am I talking about?
- Proof of employee understanding of critical company values, such that they are living the values in their daily work
- Proof of how that can hit the bottom line (e.g., the R&D department showing very low results for the value of “Innovative Thinking”)
- More clear and easy identification of hidden high performers across the organisation
- The ability to target these high performers based on critical skills and behaviours at a moment’s notice
- How leadership can proactively manage the company culture to raise up these hidden performers and address areas where values demonstration is low
What other metrics should HR “bring to the table?”
Derek Irvine is senior vice president of global strategy at HR software provider, Globoforce.
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